This is one about the perils of using technology to "save money" for you company. Sometimes it's not the wisest thing to go the cheapest. Especially in Center City. If you want to use anything please ask.
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IN A 37th FLOOR CORNER OFFICE IN CENTER CITY
Sarah was hard at work comparing costs on a spreadsheet. She was known as a hard charger and was already a Junior VP at 28 in the Gorges Street Company, an exclusive hedge fund company that was a definite up and comer since the Platinum Corporation had undergone some rather massive changes recently.
Sarah tried hard not to think about that when she did have time to think. The new financial district was actually on the other side of the river from Sassy Street and was now getting the reputation as the new "Official" face of Center City. It was still clean, well policed, had good schools, and the "clean" trendy night life and hotspots. The villain known as Super Pimp and the Sassy Five had pretty much stopped at the river when they had taken over the Center City Ballet. The notorious pimp seemed content to rule Sassy Street from the former Ballet (now an adult sex club) to its termination at the Platinum Corporation Headquarters building and about 4 blocks on either side.
As disgusting as all of that was, Sarah still enjoyed Center City on her side of the river, especially since her company was gaining a LOT of business from companies wanting to be associated with "clean" companies, not the criminal cartel the Platinum Corporation had become under it's now ditzy blonde bimbo hooker owner Tristan.
The costs Sarah was comparing was on a new Tele and Video Conferencing system. Part of this was just standard technological upgrading, but the other part was that her firm would rather not have people visiting Center City in its current state. The image was simply a bit too seedy and it had cost them some business. But moving was also not an option, at least not for another 2 or 3 years until they could build up a bigger cash fund.
So that left doing Video-Teleconferencing with all the customers.
Research had shown that doing even routine business via a video call actually helped the company image. It gave a sense of the agent or manager actually being there working with the client versus a much more impersonal email or phone call. And with some of the more advanced systems you could make even more of an impression. Sarah's job was to find the best for the cheapest price.
Sarah had argued that this was something that would be better to spend more money on, but had been overruled. So she had put out the contract and was reviewing bids and muttering about how this was not the time to be a cheapskate.
The two companies who had the best product were way out of her budget range already. The others seemed to be fly by night or just not up to what they needed. She was getting very frustrated when she noticed that a last minute bid by a new company had just come in.
"True-Self VTC. We WILL showcase the real you!" was the header and Sarah rolled her eyes at it. But as she started to read the specs of their offered system her eyes widened.
"Wow. This is actually pretty impressive. New 3d technology, crystal clear picture, compatible with any system. Customizable. Huh, sounds like what we need exactly. Of course they will be out of our budget by..."
Sarah trailed off as she looked at the bid. "HOLY COW! This can't be real! No way they could do this for that amount." Sarah said out loud. The bid was the lowest of all and they also stated they would beat any other low bid by $10000 guaranteed.
Sarah pursed her lips for a second and then decided she had nothing to lose. If they were telling the truth she would look great and probably get a promotion out of it. If not, she could at least state she had pursued all avenues.
She called the number and was greeted by a very happy sounding woman who called herself Cindi. After some very technical discussion and questions Sarah was certain that their salespeople knew their stuff. She understood the technology pretty well, but she had talked to her IT folks and had gotten some very detailed questions to help sort out those who understood their products and those who had no clue.
The rep was more than willing to assist and answer any and every question she had in regards to their systems. It appeared to be top of the line, exactly what they needed and at a rock bottom price. Which made Sarah very suspicious about the whole thing.
"You are exactly what we need, but that is why I am very hesitant. You appear to be too good to be true, so I'm trying to figure out how you are going to screw us." She stated deadpan into the phone to Cindi after her final questions had been answered.
A little laugh came from the other end. "I can understand that. Here is the deal. We have made some breakthroughs that will revolutionize this area, but it ate a LOT of our capital. A LOT. We are currently hurting and if we can't get some sales going fast we are in the hot seat and could lose everything. Your company does tons of business, with lots of great clients. If we can get you to push our stuff, and trust me when I say just using our product is pushing it enough in terms of sales, we can get some more customers and be okay. I'm probably sounding desperate but you might be our last chance."
"Look, let me give you this offer. 1 week free trial, 1 week at 25% the flat rate. If you don't like our system after two weeks, we will pull it and you can get someone else. If you like it, then you can get the full system for the quoted price on my bid. Deal?"
Sarah blinked. That offer was too good to pass up, even if they only came through on half the stuff.
"Okay, deal. I need 2 days to get things set; you can contact my people on Thursday."
THREE DAYS LATER IN THE SAME OFFICE
Sarah stared at her screen with a look of amazement. She had gotten the okay and the techs had actually started working last night. But the system was now fully operational and ready to go. The techs must have worked all night, but they had told her it was literally the simplest upgrade and install they had ever done. One of the techs had said it was almost like some force was working behind the scenes to make everything work. He had stated it had made him run anti-virus and check the coding and the hardware but nothing had come up.
Sarah asked what hardware had been installed and the tech pointed to a very small camera on her desk. It would lock on her and follow once the conversation started so she could move about. She could order it to hold in place verbally if she wanted, but otherwise it was a motion tracker.
